Conocephalus (Anisoptera) saltator (Saussure)

Fianco, Marcos, 2023, Katydids (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) from Guartelá State Park, State of Paraná, Southern Brazil: diversity, bioacoustics and description of five new species, Journal of Natural History 57 (1), pp. 1080-1137 : 1093-1094

Conocephalus (Anisoptera) saltator (Saussure)

( Figure 5c, 5h )

Comments

This species is present in the GSP together with the alien plants of the genus Urochloa (Poaceae) (three species in GSP), associated with drained sandy soil (as noted by de Souza et al. (2018). Conocephalus (A.) saltator is a katydid species with a wide distribution, occurring from Panamá to Argentina, usually associated with Urochloa (treated as Brachiaria by Chamorro-Rengifo et al. (2018)), where it feeds on its flowers and seeds, and/or oviposits in its stems (pers. obs.). From all the samplings in the GSP, I did not find this species inside the park, only in the visitor reception centre, in the road that leads to the research lab; these places are surrounded by monoculture plantations and by a farm that has free-range animals that feed on Urochloa and other Poaceae (pers. obs.).

Bioacoustics ( Figure 6e–f )

Males call almost continuously during the day and through the night. Duration of the pulses: 31.5 ± 2.6 ms (25.2–40.9 ms); duration of echemes: 0.5 ± 0.04 s (0.38– 0.63 s); mute interval between echemes: 0.47 ± 0.03 s (0.43– 0.55 s); bandwidth: 18.9 ± 2.5 kHz (15.7– 33 kHz); peak frequency: 15.8 ± 0.6 kHz (14.8–18.2 kHz).

Examined material

Two males and one female, ′ Brasil, PR, Tibagi, Parque \ Estadual do Guartelá [Guartelá State Park]\ 24.5660°S, 50.2561°W 21–24.x.2020 Coleta ativa\diurna [diurnal active collection] M. Fianco & H. Preis ̍ ; two males and one female, same data, except ′ Coleta ativa\noturna [nocturnal active collection]̍ ; four males and one female, same data, except ′ 09–12. xii.2020̍ and ′M. Fianco & N.\ Szinwelski ̍ ; one female, same data, except ′ 09–12.xii.2020̍, ′ Coleta ativa\noturna [nocturnal active collection]̍ and ′M. Fianco & N.\ Szinwelski ̍ ; and one male, same data, except ′ 08–11.i.2021̍, ′ Coleta ativa\noturna [nocturnal active collection]̍ and ′M. Fianco ̍.

Figures

Figure 5. Species of Conocephalini found in Guartelá State Park. (a) female (top) and male (bottom) of Conocephalus (Anisoptera) goianus; (b) male (top) and female (bottom) of C. (A.) guartela sp. nov.; (c) male (top) and female (bottom) of C. (A.) saltator; (d) male of C. (A.) truncatus; (e) male of C. (Opeastylus) longipes; (f) male and female of an unknown genus and species of Conocephalini; (g) male of C. (A.) goianus; (h) male of C. (A.) saltator; (i) female of C. (O.) longipes.

Figure 6. Calling songs of the species of Conocephalus (Anisoptera). (a, c, e, g) echeme sequence; (b, d, f, h) spectrogram of an echeme, in linear intensity scale. (a, b) C. (A.) goianus; (c, d) C. (A.) guartela sp. nov.; (e, f) C. (A.) saltator; (g, h) C. (A.) truncatus.